Theodore Roosevelt Jr.Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (/ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROH-zə-velt;[a] October 27,
1858 – January 6, 1919) was an American statesman and writer
who served as the 26th
President of the United StatesPresident of the United States from 1901 to
1909. He also served as the 25th Vice President of the United States
from March to September 1901 and as the 33rd
Governor of New YorkGovernor of New York from
1899 to 1900. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he
became a driving force for the
Progressive EraProgressive Era in the United States in
the early 20th century. His face is depicted on Mount Rushmore,
alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham
Lincoln.
Roosevelt was born a sickly child with debilitating asthma, but he
overcame his physical health problems by embracing a strenuous
lifestyle. He integrated his exuberant personality, vast range of
interests, and world-famous achievements into a "cowboy" persona
defined by robust masculinity. Home-schooled, he began a lifelong
naturalist avocation before attending Harvard College. His book, The
Naval
War of 1812War of 1812 (1882), established his reputation as both a learned
historian and as a popular writer. Upon entering politics, he became
the leader of the reform faction of Republicans in New York's state
legislature. Following the near-simultaneous deaths of his wife and
mother, he escaped to a cattle ranch in the Dakotas. Roosevelt served
as
Assistant Secretary of the NavyAssistant Secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley,
but resigned from that post to lead the
Rough RidersRough Riders during the
Spanish–American War. Returning a war hero, he was elected Governor
of New York in 1898. After the death of Vice President Garret Hobart,
the New York state party leadership convinced McKinley to accept
Roosevelt as his running mate in the 1900 election. Roosevelt
campaigned vigorously, and the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket won a
landslide victory based on a platform of peace, prosperity, and
conservatism.
After taking office as Vice President in March 1901, he became
President at age 42 following McKinley's assassination that September,
and remains the youngest person to become president. As a leader of
the Progressive movement, he championed his "Square Deal" domestic
policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts,
regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs. Making conservation
a top priority, he established many new national parks, forests, and
monuments intended to preserve the nation's natural resources. In
foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he began
construction of the
PanamaPanama Canal. He expanded the Navy and sent the
Great White FleetGreat White Fleet on a world tour to project the United States' naval
power around the globe. His successful efforts to broker the end of
the
Russo-Japanese WarRusso-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. He avoided
the controversial tariff and money issues. Elected in 1904 to a full
term, Roosevelt continued to promote progressive policies, many of
which were passed in Congress. Roosevelt successfully groomed his
close friend, William Howard Taft, and Taft won the 1908 presidential
election to succeed him. In polls of historians and political
scientists, Roosevelt is generally ranked as one of the five best
presidents.[2]
Frustrated with Taft's conservatism, Roosevelt belatedly tried to win
the 1912 Republican nomination. He failed, walked out, and founded a
third party, the Progressive, so-called "Bull Moose" Party, which
called for wide-ranging progressive reforms. The split allowed the
Democrats to win the White House. Following his election defeat,
Roosevelt led a two-year expedition to the Amazon basin, where he
nearly died of tropical disease. During World War I, he criticized
President
Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson for keeping the country out of the war with
Germany, and his offer to lead volunteers to
FranceFrance was rejected.
Though he had considered running for president again in 1920,
Roosevelt's health continued to deteriorate, and he died in 1919.

Contents

1 Early life and family
2 Education
3 Naval history and strategy
4 First marriage and widowerhood
5 Early political career

Roosevelt's coat of arms, featuring a rose bush in reference to the
name: "Roosevelt", which is Dutch for "rose field"[3]

Theodore Roosevelt Jr.Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was born on October 27, 1858, at East 20th
Street in New York City.[4] He was the second of four children born to
socialite Martha Stewart "Mittie" Bulloch and businessman and
philanthropist
Theodore Roosevelt Sr.Theodore Roosevelt Sr. He had an older sister, Anna
(nicknamed "Bamie"), a younger brother, Elliott, and a younger sister,
Corinne. Elliott was later the father of First Lady Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt, the wife of Theodore's distant cousin, President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt. His paternal grandfather was of Dutch descent;[5]
his other ancestry included primarily Scottish and Scots-Irish,
English[6] and smaller amounts of German, Welsh, and French.[7]
Theodore Sr. was the fifth son of businessman Cornelius Van Schaack
"C.V.S." Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill. Theodore's fourth cousin,
James RooseveltJames Roosevelt I, who was also a businessman, was the father of
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Mittie was the younger daughter
of Major
James Stephens BullochJames Stephens Bulloch and Martha P. "Patsy" Stewart.[8]
Through the Van Schaacks, Roosevelt was a descendant of the Schuyler
family.[9]
Roosevelt's youth was largely shaped by his poor health and
debilitating asthma. He repeatedly experienced sudden nighttime asthma
attacks that caused the experience of being smothered to death, which
terrified both Theodore and his parents. Doctors had no cure.[10]
Nevertheless, he was energetic and mischievously inquisitive.[11] His
lifelong interest in zoology began at age seven when he saw a dead
seal at a local market; after obtaining the seal's head, Roosevelt and
two cousins formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural
History". Having learned the rudiments of taxidermy, he filled his
makeshift museum with animals that he killed or caught; he then
studied the animals and prepared them for display. At age nine, he
recorded his observation of insects in a paper entitled "The Natural
History of Insects".[12]
Roosevelt's father significantly influenced him. His father was a
prominent leader in New York's cultural affairs; he helped to found
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and had been especially active in
mobilizing support for the Union during the Civil War, even though his
in-laws included Confederate leaders. Roosevelt said, "My father,
Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength
and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great unselfishness. He
would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness,
cowardice, or untruthfulness." Family trips abroad, including tours of
EuropeEurope in 1869 and 1870, and
EgyptEgypt in 1872, shaped his cosmopolitan
perspective.[13] Hiking with his family in the
AlpsAlps in 1869, Roosevelt
found that he could keep pace with his father. He had discovered the
significant benefits of physical exertion to minimize his asthma and
bolster his spirits.[14] Roosevelt began a heavy regime of exercise.
After being manhandled by two older boys on a camping trip, he found a
boxing coach to teach him to fight and strengthen his weakened
body.[15][16]
Education

Roosevelt's taxidermy kit[17]

Roosevelt was mostly home schooled by tutors and his parents.
Biographer
H. W. BrandsH. W. Brands argued that "The most obvious drawback to his
home schooling was uneven coverage of the various areas of human
knowledge".[18] He was solid in geography and bright in history,
biology, French, and German; however, he struggled in mathematics and
the classical languages. When he entered
Harvard CollegeHarvard College on September
27, 1876; his father advised: "Take care of your morals first, your
health next, and finally your studies."[19] His father's sudden death
on February 9, 1878, devastated Roosevelt, but he eventually recovered
and doubled his activities.[20] He did well in science, philosophy,
and rhetoric courses but continued to struggle in Latin and Greek. He
studied biology intently and was already an accomplished naturalist
and a published ornithologist; he read prodigiously with an almost
photographic memory.[21] While at Harvard, Roosevelt participated in
rowing and boxing; he was once runner-up in a Harvard boxing
tournament.[22] Roosevelt was a member of the
Alpha Delta PhiAlpha Delta Phi literary
society, the
Delta Kappa EpsilonDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and the prestigious
Porcellian Club; he was also an editor of The Harvard Advocate. In
1880, Roosevelt graduated
Phi Beta KappaPhi Beta Kappa (22nd of 177) from Harvard
with an A.B. magna cum laude. Biographer Henry Pringle states:

Roosevelt, attempting to analyze his college career and weigh the
benefits he had received, felt that he had obtained little from
Harvard. He had been depressed by the formalistic treatment of many
subjects, by the rigidity, the attention to minutiae that were
important in themselves, but which somehow were never linked up with
the whole.[23]

After his father's death, Roosevelt had inherited $125,000, enough to
live comfortably for the rest of his life. Roosevelt gave up his
earlier plan of studying natural science and instead decided to attend
Columbia Law School, moving back into his family's home in New York
City. Roosevelt was an able law student, but he often found law to be
irrational; he spent much of his time writing a book on the War of
1812. Determined to enter politics, Roosevelt began attending meetings
at Morton Hall, the 59th Street headquarters of New York's 21st
District Republican Association. Though Roosevelt's father had been a
prominent member of the Republican Party, the younger Roosevelt made
an unorthodox career choice for someone of his class, as most of
Roosevelt's peers refrained from becoming too closely involved in
politics. Nonetheless, Roosevelt found allies in the local Republican
Party, and he defeated an incumbent Republican state assemblyman
closely tied to the political machine of Senator Roscoe Conkling.
After his election victory, Roosevelt decided to drop out of law
school, later saying, "I intended to be one of the governing
class."[24]
Naval history and strategy
While at Harvard, Roosevelt began a systematic study of the role
played by the young
United States NavyUnited States Navy in the War of 1812.[25][26]
Assisted by two uncles, he scrutinized original source materials and
official U.S. Navy records. Roosevelt's carefully researched book,
published in 1882, remains one of the most important scholarly studies
of the war, complete with drawings of individual and combined ship
maneuvers, charts depicting the differences in iron throw weights of
cannon shot between rival forces, and analyses of the differences
between British and American leadership down to the ship-to-ship
level. Published in 1882,
The Naval War of 1812The Naval War of 1812 was praised for its
scholarship and style, and it showed Roosevelt to be a scholar of
history. It remains a standard study of the war.[27]
With the publication of The Influence of Sea Power upon History,
1660–1783 in 1890, Navy Captain
Alfred Thayer MahanAlfred Thayer Mahan was immediately
hailed as the world's outstanding naval theorist by the leaders of
Europe. Roosevelt paid very close attention to Mahan's emphasis that
only a nation with the world's most powerful fleet could dominate the
world's oceans, exert its diplomacy to the fullest, and defend its own
borders.[28][29] He incorporated Mahan's ideas into his views on naval
strategy for the remainder of his career.[30][31]
First marriage and widowerhood
On his 22nd birthday in 1880, Roosevelt married socialite Alice
Hathaway Lee.[32][33] Their daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, was born on
February 12, 1884. Two days after giving birth, Roosevelt's wife died
due to an undiagnosed case of kidney failure (called Bright's disease
at the time), which had been masked by the pregnancy. In his diary,
Roosevelt wrote a large 'X' on the page and then, "The light has gone
out of my life." His mother, Mittie, had died of typhoid fever eleven
hours earlier at 3:00 a.m., in the same house. Distraught,
Roosevelt left baby Alice in the care of his sister Bamie in New York
City while he grieved. He assumed custody of his daughter when she was
three.[34]
After the death of his wife and mother, Roosevelt focused on his work,
specifically by re-energizing a legislative investigation into
corruption of the
New York CityNew York City government, which arose from a
concurrent bill proposing that power be centralized in the mayor's
office.[35] For the rest of his life, he rarely spoke about his wife
Alice and did not write about her in his autobiography. While working
with
Joseph Bucklin BishopJoseph Bucklin Bishop on a biography that included a collection
of his letters, Roosevelt did not mention his marriage to Alice nor
his second marriage to Edith Kermit Carow.[36]
Early political career

Roosevelt as NY State Assemblyman, 1883

State Assemblyman
Roosevelt was a member of the
New York State AssemblyNew York State Assembly (New York Co.,
21st D.) in 1882, 1883 and 1884. He immediately began making his mark,
specifically in corporate corruption issues.[37] He blocked a corrupt
effort by financier
Jay GouldJay Gould to lower his taxes. Roosevelt exposed
suspected collusion in the matter by Judge Theodore Westbrook, and
argued for and received approval for an investigation to proceed,
aiming for the impeachment of the judge. The investigation committee
rejected impeachment, but Roosevelt had exposed the potential
corruption in Albany, and thus assumed a high and positive political
profile in multiple New York publications.[38] Roosevelt's
anti-corruption efforts helped him win re-election in 1882 by a margin
greater than two-to-one, an achievement made even more impressive by
the fact that Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland won
Roosevelt's district.[39] With Conkling's Stalwart faction of the
Republican Party in disarray following the assassination of President
James Garfield, Roosevelt won election as the Republican party leader
in the state assembly. He allied with Governor Cleveland to win
passage of a civil service reform bill.[40] Roosevelt won re-election
a second time, and sought the office of Speaker of the New York State
Assembly, but was defeated by
Titus Sheard in a 41 to 29 vote of the
GOP caucus.[41][42] In his final term, Roosevelt served as Chairman of
the Committee on Affairs of Cities; he wrote more bills than any other
legislator.[43]
Presidential election of 1884
With numerous presidential hopefuls to choose from, Roosevelt
supported Senator
George F. EdmundsGeorge F. Edmunds of Vermont, a colorless reformer.
The state GOP preferred the incumbent president, New York City's
Chester Arthur, who was known for passing the Pendleton Civil Service
Reform Act. Arthur, at the time, was suffering from Bright's disease,
unknown to the public, and out of duty he did not contest his own
nomination. Roosevelt fought hard and succeeded in influencing the
ManhattanManhattan delegates at the state convention in Utica. He then took
control of the state convention, bargaining through the night and
outmaneuvering the supporters of Arthur and James G. Blaine; he gained
a national reputation as a key person in New York State.[44]
Roosevelt attended the 1884 GOP National Convention in Chicago and
gave a speech convincing delegates to nominate
African AmericanAfrican American John
R. Lynch, an Edmunds supporter, to be temporary chair. Roosevelt
fought alongside the
MugwumpMugwump reformers; however, Blaine, having gained
support from Arthur's and Edmunds's delegates, won the nomination by
541 votes on the fourth ballot. In a crucial moment of his budding
political career, Roosevelt resisted the demand of the Mugwumps that
he bolt from Blaine. He bragged about his one small success: "We
achieved a victory in getting up a combination to beat the Blaine
nominee for temporary chairman... To do this needed a mixture of
skill, boldness and energy... to get the different factions to come
in... to defeat the common foe."[45] He was also impressed by an
invitation to speak before an audience of ten thousand, the largest
crowd he had addressed up to that date. Having gotten a taste of
national politics, Roosevelt felt less aspiration for advocacy on the
state level; he then retired to his new "Chimney Butte Ranch" on the
Little Missouri River.[46] Roosevelt refused to join other Mugwumps in
supporting Grover Cleveland, the governor of New York and the
Democratic nominee in the general election. He debated the pros and
cons of staying loyal with his political friend, Henry Cabot Lodge.
After Blaine won the nomination, Roosevelt had carelessly said that he
would give "hearty support to any decent Democrat". He distanced
himself from the promise, saying that it had not been meant "for
publication".[47] When a reporter asked if he would support Blaine,
Roosevelt replied, "That question I decline to answer. It is a subject
I do not care to talk about."[48] In the end, he realized that he had
to support Blaine to maintain his role in the GOP, and he did so in a
press release on July 19.[49] Having lost the support of many
reformers, Roosevelt decided to retire from politics and move to North
Dakota.[50]
Cowboy in Dakota

Roosevelt moved West following the 1884 presidential election, and he
built a second ranch named Elkhorn, which was 35 mi (56 km)
north of the boomtown of Medora, North Dakota. Roosevelt learned to
ride western style, rope and hunt on the banks of the Little Missouri.
Though he earned the respect of the authentic cowboys, they were not
overly impressed.[51] However, he identified with the herdsman of
history, a man he said possesses, "few of the emasculated,
milk-and-water moralities admired by the pseudo-philanthropists; but
he does possess, to a very high degree, the stern, manly qualities
that are invaluable to a nation".[52][53] He reoriented, and began
writing about frontier life for national magazines; he also published
three books – Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Ranch Life and the
Hunting-Trail, and The Wilderness Hunter.[54]
Roosevelt brought his desire to address the common interests of
citizens to the west. He successfully led efforts to organize ranchers
to address the problems of overgrazing and other shared concerns; his
work resulted in the formation of the Little Missouri Stockmen's
Association. He was also compelled to coordinate conservation efforts
and was able to form the Boone and Crockett Club, whose primary goal
was the conservation of large game animals and their habitats.[55]
After the uniquely severe US winter of 1886–87 wiped out his herd of
cattle and those of his competitors, and with it over half of his
$80,000 investment, Roosevelt returned to the East.[56][57] Though his
finances suffered from the experience, Roosevelt's time in the West
helped remove the stigma of an ineffectual intellectual that could
have hampered his political career.[58]
Second marriage

Cartoon by
Marguerite MartynMarguerite Martyn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch portrays
Ethel Roosevelt keeping people away from the president's room after he
was shot in October 1912.

On December 2, 1886, Roosevelt married his childhood and family
friend, Edith Kermit Carow.[59] Roosevelt was deeply troubled that his
second marriage had taken place so soon after the death of his first
wife, and he faced resistance from his sisters.[60] Nonetheless, the
couple married at
St George's, Hanover SquareSt George's, Hanover Square in London, England.[61]
The couple had five children: Theodore "Ted" III in 1887, Kermit in
1889, Ethel in 1891, Archibald in 1894, and Quentin in 1897. The
couple also raised Roosevelt's daughter from his first marriage,
Alice, who often clashed with her stepmother.[62]
Reentering public life
Upon Roosevelt's return to New York in 1886, Republican leaders
quickly approached him about running for mayor of New York City.
Roosevelt accepted the nomination despite having little hope of
winning the race against United Labor Party candidate
Henry GeorgeHenry George and
Democratic candidate Abram Hewitt.[63] Roosevelt campaigned hard for
the position, but Hewitt won with 41% (90,552 votes), taking the votes
of many Republicans who feared George's radical policies.[64][63]
George was held to 31% (68,110 votes), and Roosevelt took third place
with 27% (60,435 votes).[64] Fearing that his political career might
never recover, Roosevelt turned his attention to writing The Winning
of the West, a historical work tracking the westward movement of
Americans; the book was a great success for Roosevelt, earning
favorable reviews and selling numerous copies.[65]
Civil Service Commission
After
Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison unexpectedly defeated Blaine for the
presidential nomination at the 1888 Republican National Convention,
Roosevelt gave stump speeches in the Midwest in support of
Harrison.[66] On the insistence of Henry Cabot Lodge, President
Harrison appointed Roosevelt to the United States Civil Service
Commission, where he served until 1895.[67] While many of his
predecessors had approached the office as a sinecure,[68] Roosevelt
vigorously fought the spoilsmen and demanded enforcement of civil
service laws.[69] The New York Sun then described Roosevelt as
"irrepressible, belligerent, and enthusiastic".[70] Roosevelt
frequently clashed with Postmaster General John Wanamaker, who handed
out numerous patronage positions to Harrison supporters, and
Roosevelt's attempt to force out several postal workers damaged
Harrison politically.[71] Despite Roosevelt's support for Harrison's
reelection bid in the presidential election of 1892, the eventual
winner, Grover Cleveland, reappointed him to the same post.[72]
Roosevelt's close friend and biographer, Joseph Bucklin Bishop,
described his assault on the spoils system:

The very citadel of spoils politics, the hitherto impregnable fortress
that had existed unshaken since it was erected on the foundation laid
by Andrew Jackson, was tottering to its fall under the assaults of
this audacious and irrepressible young man... Whatever may have been
the feelings of the (fellow Republican party) President
(Harrison)—and there is little doubt that he had no idea when he
appointed Roosevelt that he would prove to be so veritable a bull in a
china shop—he refused to remove him and stood by him firmly till the
end of his term.[70]

New York CityNew York City Police Commissioner
In 1894, a group of reform Republicans approached Roosevelt about
running for Mayor of New York again; he declined, mostly due to his
wife's resistance to being removed from the Washington social set.
Soon after he declined, he realized that he had missed an opportunity
to reinvigorate a dormant political career. He retreated to the
Dakotas for a time; his wife Edith regretted her role in the decision
and vowed that there would be no repeat of it.[73]

William Lafayette Strong, a reform-minded Republican, won the 1894
mayoral election and offered Roosevelt a position on the board of the
New York CityNew York City Police Commissioners.[66] Roosevelt became president of
the board of commissioners and radically reformed the police force.
Roosevelt implemented regular inspections of firearms and annual
physical exams, appointed recruits based on their physical and mental
qualifications rather than political affiliation, established
Meritorious Service Medals, and closed corrupt police hostelries.
During his tenure, a Municipal Lodging House was established by the
Board of Charities, and Roosevelt required officers to register with
the Board; he also had telephones installed in station houses.[74]
In 1894, Roosevelt met Jacob Riis, the muckraking Evening Sun
newspaper journalist who was opening the eyes of New Yorkers to the
terrible conditions of the city's millions of poor immigrants with
such books as How the Other Half Lives. Riis described how his book
affected Roosevelt:

When Roosevelt read [my] book, he came... No one ever helped as he
did. For two years we were brothers in (New York City's crime-ridden)
Mulberry Street. When he left I had seen its golden age... There is
very little ease where
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt leads, as we all of us found
out. The lawbreaker found it out who predicted scornfully that he
would "knuckle down to politics the way they all did", and lived to
respect him, though he swore at him, as the one of them all who was
stronger than pull... that was what made the age golden, that for the
first time a moral purpose came into the street. In the light of it
everything was transformed.[75]

Roosevelt made a habit of walking officers' beats late at night and
early in the morning to make sure that they were on duty.[76] He made
a concerted effort to uniformly enforce New York's Sunday closing law;
in this, he ran up against boss Tom Platt as well as Tammany Hall—he
was notified that the Police Commission was being legislated out of
existence. Roosevelt chose to defer rather than split with his
party.[77] As
Governor of New YorkGovernor of New York State, he would later sign an act
replacing the Police Commission with a single Police Commissioner.[78]
Emergence as a national figure
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
In the 1896 presidential election, Roosevelt backed Speaker of the
House
Thomas Brackett ReedThomas Brackett Reed for the Republican nomination, but William
McKinley won the nomination and defeated
William Jennings BryanWilliam Jennings Bryan in the
general election.[79] Roosevelt opposed Bryan's free silver platform,
viewing many of Bryan's followers as dangerous fanatics, and Roosevelt
gave campaign speeches for McKinley.[80] Urged by Congressman Henry
Cabot Lodge, President McKinley appointed Roosevelt as the Assistant
Secretary of the Navy in 1897.[81] Secretary of the Navy John D. Long
was more concerned about formalities than functions, was in poor
health, and left many major decisions to Roosevelt. Influenced by
Alfred Thayer Mahan, Roosevelt called for a build-up in the country's
naval strength, particularly the construction of battleships.[82]
Roosevelt also began pressing his national security views regarding
the Pacific and the Caribbean on McKinley, and was particularly
adamant that
SpainSpain be ejected from Cuba.[83] He explained his
priorities to one of the Navy's planners in late 1897:

I would regard war with
SpainSpain from two viewpoints: first, the
advisability on the grounds both of humanity and self-interest of
interfering on behalf of the Cubans, and of taking one more step
toward the complete freeing of America from European dominion; second,
the benefit done our people by giving them something to think of which
is not material gain, and especially the benefit done our military
forces by trying both the Navy and Army in actual practice.[84]

On February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana,
Cuba, killing hundreds of crew members. While Roosevelt and many other
Americans blamed
SpainSpain for the explosion, McKinley sought a diplomatic
solution.[85] Without approval from Long or McKinley, Roosevelt sent
out orders to several naval vessels, directing them to prepare for
war.[85][86] George Dewey, who had received an appointment to lead the
Asiatic SquadronAsiatic Squadron with the backing of Roosevelt, later credited his
victory at the
Battle of Manila BayBattle of Manila Bay to Roosevelt's orders.[87] After
finally giving up hope of a peaceful solution, McKinley asked Congress
to declare war upon Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.[88]

Col. Theodore Roosevelt

War in Cuba
Main article: Rough Riders
With the beginning of the
Spanish–American WarSpanish–American War in late April 1898,
Roosevelt resigned from his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
Along with Army Colonel Leonard Wood, he formed the First US Volunteer
Cavalry Regiment.[89] His wife and many of his friends begged
Roosevelt to remain in his post in Washington, but Roosevelt was
determined to see battle. When the newspapers reported the formation
of the new regiment, Roosevelt and Wood were flooded with applications
from all over the country.[90] Referred to by the press as the "Rough
Riders", the regiment was one of many temporary units active only for
the duration of the war.[91]
The regiment trained for several weeks in San Antonio, Texas, and in
his autobiography Roosevelt wrote that his prior experience with the
New York National GuardNew York National Guard had been invaluable, in that it enabled him to
immediately begin teaching his men basic soldiering skills.[92] The
Rough RidersRough Riders used some standard issue gear and some of their own
design, purchased with gift money. Diversity characterized the
regiment, which included Ivy Leaguers, professional and amateur
athletes, upscale gentlemen, cowboys, frontiersmen, Native Americans,
hunters, miners, prospectors, former soldiers, tradesmen, and
sheriffs. The
Rough RidersRough Riders were part of the cavalry division commanded
by former Confederate general Joseph Wheeler, which itself was one of
three divisions in the V Corps under Lieutenant General William Rufus
Shafter. Roosevelt and his men landed in Daiquiri, Cuba, on June 23,
1898, and marched to Siboney. Wheeler sent parts of the 1st and 10th
Regular Cavalry on the lower road northwest and sent the "Rough
Riders" on the parallel road running along a ridge up from the beach.
To throw off his infantry rival, Wheeler left one regiment of his
Cavalry Division, the 9th, at Siboney so that he could claim that his
move north was only a limited reconnaissance if things went wrong.
Roosevelt was promoted to colonel and took command of the regiment
when Wood was put in command of the brigade. The
Rough RidersRough Riders had a
short, minor skirmish known as the Battle of Las Guasimas; they fought
their way through Spanish resistance and, together with the Regulars,
forced the Spaniards to abandon their positions.[93]

Colonel Roosevelt and the
Rough RidersRough Riders after capturing Kettle Hill
along with members of the 3rd Volunteers and the regular Army black
10th Cavalry

Under his leadership, the
Rough RidersRough Riders became famous for the charge up
Kettle HillKettle Hill on July 1, 1898, while supporting the regulars. Roosevelt
had the only horse, and rode back and forth between rifle pits at the
forefront of the advance up Kettle Hill, an advance that he urged
despite the absence of any orders from superiors. He was forced to
walk up the last part of Kettle Hill, because his horse had been
entangled in barbed wire. The victories came at a cost of 200 killed
and 1,000 wounded.[94]
Roosevelt commented on his role in the battles: "On the day of the big
fight I had to ask my men to do a deed that European military writers
consider utterly impossible of performance, that is, to attack over
open ground an unshaken infantry armed with the best modern repeating
rifles behind a formidable system of entrenchments. The only way to
get them to do it in the way it had to be done was to lead them
myself."[95]
In August, Roosevelt and other officers demanded that the soldiers be
returned home. Roosevelt always recalled the Battle of Kettle Hill
(part of the San Juan Heights) as "the great day of my life" and "my
crowded hour". In 2001, Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the Medal
of Honor for his actions; he had been nominated during the war, but
Army officials, annoyed at his grabbing the headlines, blocked it.[96]
After returning to civilian life, Roosevelt preferred to be known as
"Colonel Roosevelt" or "The Colonel", though "Teddy" remained much
more popular with the public, even though Roosevelt openly despised
that moniker. Men working closely with Roosevelt customarily called
him "Colonel" or "Theodore".[97]
Governor of New York
After leaving
CubaCuba in August 1898, the
Rough RidersRough Riders were transported
to a camp at Montauk Point, Long Island, where Roosevelt and his men
were briefly quarantined due to the War Department's fear of spreading
yellow fever.[98] Shortly after Roosevelt's return to the United
States, Republican Congressman Lemuel E. Quigg, a lieutenant of party
boss Tom Platt, asked Roosevelt to run in the 1898 gubernatorial
election. Platt disliked Roosevelt personally, feared that Roosevelt
would oppose Platt's interests in office, and was reluctant to propel
Roosevelt to the forefront of national politics. However, Platt also
needed a strong candidate due to the unpopularity of the incumbent
Republican governor, Frank S. Black, and Roosevelt agreed to become
the nominee and to try not to "make war" with the Republican
establishment once in office.[99] Roosevelt defeated Black in the
Republican caucus by a vote of 753 to 218, and faced Democrat Augustus
Van Wyck, a well-respected judge, in the general election.[100]
Roosevelt campaigned vigorously on his war record, winning the
election by a margin of just one percent.[101]
As governor, Roosevelt learned much about ongoing economic issues and
political techniques that later proved valuable in his presidency. He
was exposed to the problems of trusts, monopolies, labor relations,
and conservation. Chessman argues that Roosevelt's program "rested
firmly upon the concept of the square deal by a neutral state". The
rules for the
Square DealSquare Deal were "honesty in public affairs, an
equitable sharing of privilege and responsibility, and subordination
of party and local concerns to the interests of the state at
large".[102]
By holding twice-daily press conferences—which was an
innovation—Roosevelt remained connected with his middle-class
political base.[103] Roosevelt successfully pushed the Ford
Franchise-Tax bill, which taxed public franchises granted by the state
and controlled by corporations, declaring that "a corporation which
derives its powers from the State, should pay to the State a just
percentage of its earnings as a return for the privileges it
enjoys".[104] He rejected "boss" Thomas C. Platt's worries that this
approached Bryanite Socialism, explaining that without it, New York
voters might get angry and adopt public ownership of streetcar lines
and other franchises.[105]
The New York state government affected many interests, and the power
to make appointments to policy-making positions was a key role for the
governor. Platt insisted that he be consulted on major appointments;
Roosevelt appeared to comply, but then made his own decisions.
Historians marvel that Roosevelt managed to appoint so many first-rate
men with Platt's approval. He even enlisted Platt's help in securing
reform, such as in the spring of 1899, when Platt pressured state
senators to vote for a civil service bill that the secretary of the
Civil Service Reform Association called "superior to any civil service
statute heretofore secured in America".[106]
Chessman argues that as governor, Roosevelt developed the principles
that shaped his presidency, especially insistence upon the public
responsibility of large corporations, publicity as a first remedy for
trusts, regulation of railroad rates, mediation of the conflict of
capital and labor, conservation of natural resources and protection of
the less fortunate members of society.[102] Roosevelt sought to
position himself against the excesses of large corporations on the one
hand and radical movements on the other.[107]
As the chief executive of the most populous state in the union,
Roosevelt was widely considered a potential future presidential
candidate, and supporters such as
William Allen WhiteWilliam Allen White encouraged him
to run for president.[108] Roosevelt had no interest in challenging
McKinley for the Republican nomination in 1900, and was denied his
preferred post of Secretary of War. As his term progressed, Roosevelt
pondered a 1904 presidential run, but was uncertain about whether he
should seek re-election as governor in 1900.[109]
Vice President
Main article: United States presidential election, 1900
In November 1899, Vice President
Garret HobartGarret Hobart died of heart failure,
leaving an open spot on the 1900 Republican national ticket. Though
Henry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot Lodge and others urged him to run for vice president in
1900, Roosevelt was reluctant to take the powerless position and
issued a public statement saying that he would not accept the
nomination.[110] Additionally, Roosevelt was informed by President
McKinley and campaign manager
Mark HannaMark Hanna that he was not being
considered for the role of vice president due to his actions prior to
the Spanish–American War. Eager to be rid of Roosevelt, Platt
nonetheless began a newspaper campaign in favor of Roosevelt's
nomination for the vice presidency.[111] Roosevelt attended the 1900
Republican National ConventionRepublican National Convention as a state delegate and struck a
bargain with Platt: Roosevelt would accept the nomination if the
convention offered it to him, but would otherwise serve another term
as governor. Platt asked Pennsylvania party boss
Matthew QuayMatthew Quay to lead
the campaign for Roosevelt's nomination, and Quay outmaneuvered Hanna
at the convention to put Roosevelt on the ticket.[112] Roosevelt won
the nomination unanimously.[113]
Roosevelt proved highly energetic and an equal match for Democratic
presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan's famous barnstorming
style of campaigning. In a whirlwind campaign that displayed his
energy to the public, Roosevelt made 480 stops in 23 states. He
denounced the radicalism of Bryan, contrasting it with the heroism of
the soldiers and sailors who fought and won the war against Spain.
Bryan had strongly supported the war itself, but he denounced the
annexation of the Philippines as imperialism, which would spoil
America's innocence. Roosevelt countered that it was best for the
Filipinos to have stability and the Americans to have a proud place in
the world. With the nation basking in peace and prosperity, the voters
gave McKinley an even larger victory than that which he had achieved
in 1896.[114][115]
After the campaign, Roosevelt took office as vice president in March
1901. The office of Vice President was a powerless sinecure and did
not suit Roosevelt's aggressive temperament.[116] Roosevelt's six
months as Vice President were uneventful, and Roosevelt presided over
the Senate for a mere four days before it adjourned.[117] On September
2, 1901, Roosevelt first publicized an aphorism that thrilled his
supporters at the Minnesota State Fair: "Speak softly and carry a big
stick, and you will go far."[118]
Presidency (1901–1909)

BEP engraved portrait of Roosevelt as President

Main article: Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
On September 6, President McKinley was attending the Pan-American
Exposition in
Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz.
Roosevelt was vacationing in Vermont, and traveled to Buffalo to visit
McKinley in the hospital. It appeared that McKinley would recover, so
Roosevelt resumed his vacation in the Adirondacks. When McKinley's
condition worsened, Roosevelt again traveled to Buffalo. McKinley died
on September 14, and Roosevelt was informed while he was in North
Creek; he continued on to Buffalo and was sworn in as the nation's
26th president at the Ansley Wilcox House.[34]
Roosevelt's accession to the presidency left the vice presidency
vacant. As there was no constitutional provision for filling an
intra-term vacancy in that office (prior to ratification of the 25th
Amendment in 1967), Roosevelt served his first term without a vice
president. McKinley's supporters were nervous about the new president,
and Hanna was particularly bitter that the man he had opposed so
vigorously at the convention had succeeded McKinley. Roosevelt assured
party leaders that he intended to adhere to McKinley's policies, and
he retained McKinley's Cabinet. Nonetheless, Roosevelt sought to
position himself as the party's undisputed leader, seeking to bolster
the role of the president and position himself for the 1904
election.[119]
Shortly after taking office, Roosevelt invited
Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. Washington to
dinner at the White House. To his dismay, this sparked a bitter, and
at times vicious, reaction across the heavily segregated South.
Roosevelt reacted with astonishment and protest, saying that he looked
forward to many future dinners with Washington. Upon further
reflection, Roosevelt wanted to ensure that this had no effect on
political support in the South, and further dinner invitations to
Washington were avoided;[120] their next meeting was scheduled as
typical business at 10:00am instead.[121]
Domestic policies

Trust busting and regulation
For his aggressive use of the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act, compared to
his predecessors, Roosevelt became mythologized as the "trust-buster";
but in reality he was more of a trust regulator.[122] Roosevelt viewed
big business as a necessary part of the American economy, and sought
only to prosecute the "bad trusts" that restrained trade and charged
unfair prices.[123] He brought 44 antitrust suits, breaking up the
Northern Securities Company, the largest railroad monopoly; and
regulating Standard Oil, the largest oil and refinery
company.[124][122] Presidents Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley combined prosecuted only 18 anti-trust violations
under the Sherman Antitrust Act.[122]
Bolstered by his party's success in the 1902 elections, Roosevelt
proposed the creation of the United States Department of Commerce and
Labor, which would include the Bureau of Corporations. While Congress
was receptive to Department of Commerce and Labor, it was more
skeptical of the anti-trust powers that Roosevelt sought to endow
within the Bureau of Corporations.[125] Roosevelt successfully
appealed to the public to pressure Congress, and Congress
overwhelmingly voted to pass Roosevelt's version of the bill.[126]
In a moment of frustration, House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon
commented on Roosevelt's desire for executive branch control in
domestic policy-making: "That fellow at the other end of the avenue
wants everything from the birth of Christ to the death of the devil."
Biographer Brands states, "Even his friends occasionally wondered
whether there wasn't any custom or practice too minor for him to try
to regulate, update or otherwise improve."[127] In fact, Roosevelt's
willingness to exercise his power included attempted rule changes in
the game of football; at the Naval Academy, he sought to force
retention of martial arts classes and to revise disciplinary rules. He
even ordered changes made in the minting of a coin whose design he
disliked, and ordered the Government Printing Office to adopt
simplified spellings for a core list of 300 words, according to
reformers on the Simplified Spelling Board. He was forced to rescind
the latter after substantial ridicule from the press and a resolution
of protest from the House of Representatives.[128]
Coal strike
Main article: Coal strike of 1902
In May 1902, anthracite coal miners went on strike, threatening a
national energy shortage. After threatening the coal operators with
intervention by federal troops, Roosevelt won their agreement to an
arbitration of the dispute by a commission, which succeeded in
stopping the strike. The accord with
J.P. MorganJ.P. Morgan resulted in the
miners getting more pay for fewer hours, but with no union
recognition.[129][130] Roosevelt said, "My action on labor should
always be considered in connection with my action as regards capital,
and both are reducible to my favorite formula—a square deal for
every man."[131] Roosevelt was the first president to help settle a
labor dispute.[132]
Prosecuted misconduct
During Roosevelt's second year in office it was discovered there was
corruption in the Indian Service, the Land Office, and the Post Office
Department. Roosevelt investigated and prosecuted corrupt Indian
agents who had cheated the Creeks and various tribes out of land
parcels. Land fraud and speculation were found involving Oregon
federal timberlands. In November 1902, Roosevelt and Secretary Ethan
A. Hitchcock forced Binger Hermann, the General Land Office
Commissioner, to resign office. On November 6, 1903 Francis J. Heney
was appointed special prosecutor, and obtained 146 indictments
involving an
OregonOregon Land Office bribery ring. U.S. Senator John H.
Mitchell was indicted for bribery to expedite illegal land patents,
found guilty in July 1905, and sentenced to six months in prison.[133]
More corruption was found in the Postal Department, that brought on
the indictments of 44 government employees on charges of bribery and
fraud.[134] Historians generally agree that Roosevelt moved "quickly
and decisively" to prosecute misconduct in his administration.[135]
Railroads
Main article: Hepburn Act
Merchants complained that some railroad rates were too high. In the
1906 Hepburn Act, Roosevelt sought to give the Interstate Commerce
Commission the power to regulate rates, but the Senate, led by
conservative
Nelson AldrichNelson Aldrich fought back. Roosevelt worked with the
Democratic Senator
Benjamin TillmanBenjamin Tillman to pass the bill. Roosevelt and
Aldrich ultimately reached a compromise that gave the ICC the power to
replace existing rates with "just-and-reasonable" maximum rates, but
allowed railroads to appeal to the federal courts on what was
"reasonable."[136][137] In addition to rate-setting, the Hepburn Act
also granted the ICC regulatory power over pipeline fees, storage
contracts, and several other aspects of railroad operations.[138]
Pure food and drugs
Roosevelt responded to public anger over the abuses in the food
packing industry by pushing Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act
of 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug Act. Though conservatives initially
opposed the bill, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, published in 1906,
helped galvanize support for reform.[139] The
Meat Inspection ActMeat Inspection Act of
1906 banned misleading labels and preservatives that contained harmful
chemicals. The
Pure Food and Drug ActPure Food and Drug Act banned food and drugs that were
impure or falsely labeled from being made, sold, and shipped.
Roosevelt also served as honorary president of the American School
Hygiene Association from 1907 to 1908, and in 1909 he convened the
first
White HouseWhite House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children.[140]
Conservation
Main article:
Presidency of Theodore RooseveltPresidency of Theodore Roosevelt § Conservation
Of all Roosevelt's achievements, he was proudest of his work in
conservation of natural resources, and extending federal protection to
land and wildlife.[141] Roosevelt worked closely with Interior
Secretary
James Rudolph GarfieldJames Rudolph Garfield and Chief of the United States Forest
Service
Gifford PinchotGifford Pinchot to enact a series of conservation programs
that often met with resistance from Western members of Congress such
as Charles William Fulton.[142] Nonetheless, Roosevelt established the
United States Forest Service, signed into law the creation of five
National Parks, and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, under which he
proclaimed 18 new U.S. National Monuments. He also established the
first 51 bird reserves, four game preserves, and 150 National Forests,
including Shoshone National Forest, the nation's first. The area of
the United States that he placed under public protection totals
approximately 230,000,000 acres (930,000 km2).[143]
Roosevelt extensively used executive orders on a number of occasions
to protect forest and wildlife lands during his tenure as
President.[144] By the end of his second term in office, Roosevelt
used executive orders to establish 150 million acres of reserved
forestry land.[145] Roosevelt was unapologetic about his extensive use
of executive orders to protect the environment, despite the perception
in Congress that he was encroaching on too many lands.[145]
Eventually, Senator Charles Fulton (R-OR) attached an amendment to an
agricultural appropriations bill that effectively prevented the
president from reserving any further land.[145] Before signing that
bill into law, Roosevelt used executive orders to establish an
additional 21 forest reserves, waiting until the last minute to sign
the bill into law.[146] In total, Roosevelt used executive orders to
establish 121 forest reserves in 31 states.[146] Prior to Roosevelt,
only one president had issued over 200 executive orders, Grover
Cleveland (253). The first 25 presidents issued a total of 1,262
executive orders. Roosevelt issued 1,081.[147]
Foreign policy

This political cartoon depicts Theodore Roosevelt's opposition to
European influence in the Dominican Republic.

In the late 1890s, Roosevelt had been an ardent imperialist, and he
vigorously defended the permanent acquisition of the Philippines in
the 1900 election campaign. After the rebellion ended in 1901, he
largely lost interest in the Philippines and Asian expansion in
general, despite the contradictory opinion of his Secretary of War,
William Howard Taft. As president, he primarily focused the nation's
overseas ambitions on the Caribbean, especially locations that had a
bearing on the defense of his pet project, the
PanamaPanama Canal.[148]
Roosevelt also increased the size of the navy, and by the end of his
second term the United States had more battleships than any other
country besides Britain.[149]
Following the Spanish–American War, Roosevelt believed that the
United States had emerged as a world power, and he sought ways to
assert America's newly-eminent position abroad.[150] In 1905,
Roosevelt offered to mediate a treaty to end the Russo-Japanese War.
The parties agreed to meet in
Portsmouth, New HampshirePortsmouth, New Hampshire and they
resolved the final conflict over the division of Sakhalin– Russia
took the northern half, and
JapanJapan the south;
JapanJapan also dropped its
demand for an indemnity.[151] Roosevelt won the
Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize for
his successful efforts in bringing about the Treaty of Portsmouth.
George E. Mowry concludes that Roosevelt handled the arbitration well,
doing an "excellent job of balancing Russian and Japanese power in the
Orient, where the supremacy of either constituted a threat to growing
America".[152][153] Roosevelt also played a major role in mediating
the
First Moroccan CrisisFirst Moroccan Crisis by calling the Algeciras Conference, which
averted war between
FranceFrance and Germany.[154]
Roosevelt's presidency saw the strengthening of ties with Great
Britain.
The Great RapprochementThe Great Rapprochement had begun with British support of the
United States during the Spanish–American War, and it continued as
Britain withdrew its fleet from the Caribbean in favor of focusing on
the rising German naval threat.[155] In 1901, Britain and the United
States signed the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, abrogating the
Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, which had prevented the United States from
constructing a canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.[156]
The long-standing
Alaska boundary disputeAlaska boundary dispute was settled on terms
favorable to the United States, as Great Britain was unwilling to
alienate the United States over what it considered to be a secondary
issue. As Roosevelt later put it, the resolution of the Alaskan
boundary dispute "settled the last serious trouble between the British
Empire and ourselves."[157]
The
Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 resolved unpleasant racial tensions
with Japan.
TokyoTokyo was angered over the segregation of Japanese
children in
San FranciscoSan Francisco schools. The tensions were ended, but Japan
also agreed not to allow unskilled workers to emigrate to the
U.S.[158]
Latin America and
PanamaPanama Canal
In December 1902, the Germans, British, and Italians sought to impose
a naval blockade against
VenezuelaVenezuela in order to force the repayment of
delinquent loans. Roosevelt was particularly concerned with the
motives of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm. He succeeded in getting the
aggressors to agree to arbitration by a tribunal at The Hague, and
averted the
VenezuelaVenezuela Crisis of 1902–1903.[159] The latitude granted
to the Europeans by the arbiters was in part responsible for the
"Roosevelt Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which the President
issued in 1904: "Chronic wrongdoing or an impotence which results in a
general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as
elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation,
and in the Western Hemisphere, the adherence of the United States to
the Monroe doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly,
in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of
an international police power."[160]

The U.S.'s intentions to influence the area (especially the Panama
Canal construction and control) led to the separation of
PanamaPanama from
ColombiaColombia in 1903

The pursuit of an isthmus canal in Central America during this period
focused on two possible routes—
NicaraguaNicaragua and Panama, which was then
a rebellious district within Colombia. Roosevelt convinced Congress to
approve the Panamanian alternative, and a treaty was approved, only to
be rejected by the Colombian government. When the Panamanians learned
of this, a rebellion followed, was supported by Roosevelt, and
succeeded. A treaty with the new
PanamaPanama government for construction of
the canal was then reached in 1903.[161] Roosevelt received criticism
for paying the bankrupt
Panama CanalPanama Canal Company and the New
PanamaPanama Canal
Company $40,000,000 for the rights and equipment to build the
canal.[135] Critics charged that an American investor syndicate
allegedly divided the large payment among themselves. There was also
controversy over whether a French company engineer influenced
Roosevelt in choosing the
PanamaPanama route for the canal over the
NicaraguaNicaragua route. Roosevelt denied charges of corruption concerning the
canal in a January 8, 1906 message to Congress. In January 1909,
Roosevelt, in an unprecedented move, brought criminal libel charges
against the New York World and the Indianapolis News known as the
"Roosevelt-
PanamaPanama Libel Cases".[162] Both cases were dismissed by U.S.
District Courts, and on January 3, 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court, upon
federal appeal, upheld the lower courts' rulings.[163] Historians are
sharply critical of Roosevelt's criminal prosecutions of the World and
the News, but are divided on whether actual corruption in acquiring
and building the
Panama CanalPanama Canal took place.[164]
In 1906, following a disputed election, an insurrection ensued in
Cuba; Roosevelt sent Taft, the Secretary of War, to monitor the
situation; he was convinced that he had the authority to unilaterally
authorize Taft to deploy Marines if necessary, without congressional
approval.[165]
Examining the work of numerous scholars, Ricard (2014) reports that:

The most striking evolution in the twenty-first century historiography
of
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt is the switch from a partial arraignment of the
imperialist to a quasi-unanimous celebration of the master
diplomatist.... [Regarding British relations these studies] have
underlined cogently Roosevelt's exceptional statesmanship in the
construction of the nascent twentieth-century "special relationship".
...The twenty-sixth president's reputation as a brilliant diplomatist
and realpolitician has undeniably reached new heights in the
twenty-first century...yet, his Philippine policy still prompts
criticism.[166]

Media
Building on McKinley's effective use of the press, Roosevelt made the
White HouseWhite House the center of news every day, providing interviews and
photo opportunities. After noticing the reporters huddled outside the
White HouseWhite House in the rain one day, he gave them their own room inside,
effectively inventing the presidential press briefing. The grateful
press, with unprecedented access to the White House, rewarded
Roosevelt with ample coverage.[167]
Roosevelt normally enjoyed very close relationships with the press,
which he used to keep in daily contact with his middle-class base.
While out of office, he made a living as a writer and magazine editor.
He loved talking with intellectuals, authors, and writers. He drew the
line, however, at expose-oriented scandal-mongering journalists who,
during his term, set magazine subscriptions soaring by their attacks
on corrupt politicians, mayors, and corporations. Roosevelt himself
was not usually a target, but his speech in 1906 coined the term
"muckraker" for unscrupulous journalists making wild charges. "The
liar", he said, "is no whit better than the thief, and if his
mendacity takes the form of slander he may be worse than most
thieves."[168]
The press did briefly target Roosevelt in one instance. After 1904, he
was periodically criticized for the manner in which he facilitated the
construction of the
PanamaPanama Canal. According to biographer Brands,
Roosevelt, near the end of his term, demanded that the Justice
Department bring charges of criminal libel against Joseph Pulitzer's
New York World. The publication had accused him of "deliberate
misstatements of fact" in defense of family members who were
criticized as a result of the
PanamaPanama affair. Though an indictment was
obtained, the case was ultimately dismissed in federal court—it was
not a federal offense, but one enforceable in the state courts. The
Justice Department had predicted that result, and had also advised
Roosevelt accordingly.[169]
Election of 1904

1904 election results

Main article: United States presidential election, 1904
The control and management of the Republican Party lay in the hands of
Ohio Senator and Republican Party chairman
Mark HannaMark Hanna until McKinley's
death. Roosevelt and Hanna frequently cooperated during Roosevelt's
first term, but Hanna left open the possibility of a challenge to
Roosevelt for the 1904 Republican nomination. Roosevelt and Ohio's
other Senator, Joseph B. Foraker, forced Hanna's hand by calling for
Ohio's state Republican convention to endorse Roosevelt for the 1904
nomination.[170] Unwilling to break with the president, Hanna was
forced to publicly endorse Roosevelt. Hanna and Pennsylvania Senator
Matthew QuayMatthew Quay both died in early 1904, and with the waning of Thomas
Platt's power, Roosevelt faced little effective opposition for the
1904 nomination.[171] In deference to Hanna's conservative loyalists,
Roosevelt at first offered the party chairmanship to Cornelius Bliss,
but he declined. Roosevelt turned to his own man, George B. Cortelyou
of New York, the first Secretary of Commerce and Labor. To buttress
his hold on the party's nomination, Roosevelt made it clear that
anyone opposing Cortelyou would be considered to be opposing the
President.[172] The President secured his own nomination, but his
preferred vice-presidential running mate, Robert R. Hitt, was not
nominated.[173] Senator Charles Warren Fairbanks of Indiana, a
favorite of conservatives, gained the nomination.[171]
While Roosevelt followed the tradition of incumbents in not actively
campaigning on the stump, he sought to control the campaign's message
through specific instructions to Cortelyou. He also attempted to
manage the press's release of
White HouseWhite House statements by forming the
Ananias Club. Any journalist who repeated a statement made by the
president without approval was penalized by restriction of further
access.[174]

Alton Brooks Parker

The Democratic Party's nominee in 1904 was Alton Brooks Parker.
Democratic newspapers charged that Republicans were extorting large
campaign contributions from corporations, putting ultimate
responsibility on Roosevelt, himself.[175] Roosevelt denied corruption
while at the same time he ordered Cortelyou to return $100,000 of a
campaign contribution from Standard Oil.[176] Parker said that
Roosevelt was accepting corporate donations to keep damaging
information from the
Bureau of Corporations from going public.[176]
Roosevelt strongly denied Parker's charge and responded that he would
"go into the Presidency unhampered by any pledge, promise, or
understanding of any kind, sort, or description...".[177] Allegations
from Parker and the Democrats, however, had little impact on the
election, as Roosevelt promised to give every American a "square
deal".[177] Roosevelt won 56% of the popular vote, and Parker received
38%; Roosevelt also won the Electoral College vote, 336 to 140. Before
his inauguration ceremony, Roosevelt declared that he would not serve
another term.[178] Democrats afterwards would continue to charge
Roosevelt and the Republicans of being influenced by corporate
donations during Roosevelt's second term.[179]
Second-term troubles

As his second term progressed, Roosevelt moved to the left of his
Republican Party base and called for a series of reforms, most of
which failed to pass Congress.[180] Roosevelt's influence waned as he
approached the end of his second term, as his promise to forego a
third term made him a lame duck and his concentration of power
provoked a backlash from many Congressmen.[181] He sought a national
incorporation law (at a time when all corporations had state
charters), called for a federal income tax (despite the Supreme
Court's ruling in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.), and an
inheritance tax. In the area of labor legislation, Roosevelt called
for limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during
strikes; injunctions were a powerful weapon that mostly helped
business. He wanted an employee liability law for industrial injuries
(pre-empting state laws) and an eight-hour work day for federal
employees. In other areas he also sought a postal savings system (to
provide competition for local banks), and he asked for campaign reform
laws.[182]
The election of 1904 continued to be a source of contention between
Republicans and Democrats. A Congressional investigation in 1905
revealed that corporate executives donated tens of thousands of
dollars in 1904 to the Republican National Committee. In 1908, a month
before the general presidential election, Governor Charles N. Haskell
of Oklahoma, former Democratic Treasurer, said that Senators beholden
to
Standard OilStandard Oil lobbied Roosevelt, in the summer of 1904, to authorize
the leasing of Indian oil lands by
Standard OilStandard Oil subsidiaries. He said
Roosevelt overruled his Secretary of Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock and
granted a pipeline franchise to run through the Osage lands to the
Prairie Oil and Gas Company. The New York Sun made a similar
accusation and said that Standard Oil, a refinery who financially
benefited from the pipeline, had contributed $150,000 to the
Republicans in 1904 after Roosevelt's alleged reversal allowing the
pipeline franchise. Roosevelt branded Haskell's allegation as "a lie,
pure and simple" and obtained a denial from Shaw that Roosevelt had
neither coerced Shaw nor overruled him.[183]
Post-presidency

Roosevelt shortly after leaving office, October 1910

Election of 1908
Main article: United States presidential election, 1908
Roosevelt enjoyed being president and was still relatively youthful,
but felt that a limited number of terms provided a check against
dictatorship. Roosevelt ultimately decided to stick to his 1904 pledge
not to run for a third term. He personally favored Secretary of State
Elihu RootElihu Root as his successor, but Root's ill health made him an
unsuitable candidate. New York Governor
Charles Evans HughesCharles Evans Hughes loomed as
potentially strong candidate and shared Roosevelt's progressivism, but
Roosevelt disliked him and considered him to be too independent.
Instead, Roosevelt settled on his Secretary of War, William Howard
Taft, who had ably served under Presidents Harrison, McKinley, and
Roosevelt in various positions. Roosevelt and Taft had been friends
since 1890, and Taft had consistently supported President Roosevelt's
policies.[184] Roosevelt was determined to install the successor of
his choice, and wrote the following to Taft: "Dear Will: Do you want
any action about those federal officials? I will break their necks
with the utmost cheerfulness if you say the word!" Just weeks later he
branded as "false and malicious"; the charge was that he was using the
offices at his disposal to favor Taft.[185] At the 1908 Republican
convention, many chanted for "four years more" of a Roosevelt
presidency, but Taft won the nomination after
Henry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot Lodge made
it clear that Roosevelt was not interested in a third term.[186]
In the 1908 election, Taft easily defeated the Democratic nominee,
three-time candidate William Jennings Bryan. Taft promoted a
progressivism that stressed the rule of law; he preferred that judges
rather than administrators or politicians make the basic decisions
about fairness. Taft usually proved to be a less adroit politician
than Roosevelt and lacked the energy and personal magnetism, along
with the publicity devices, the dedicated supporters, and the broad
base of public support that made Roosevelt so formidable. When
Roosevelt realized that lowering the tariff would risk creating severe
tensions inside the Republican Party by pitting producers
(manufacturers and farmers) against merchants and consumers, he
stopped talking about the issue. Taft ignored the risks and tackled
the tariff boldly, encouraging reformers to fight for lower rates, and
then cutting deals with conservative leaders that kept overall rates
high. The resulting
Payne-Aldrich tariffPayne-Aldrich tariff of 1909, signed into law
early in President Taft's tenure, was too high for most reformers, and
Taft's handling of the tariff alienated all sides. While the crisis
was building inside the Party, Roosevelt was touring Africa and
Europe, to allow Taft to be his own man.[187]
Africa and
EuropeEurope (1909–1910)

Roosevelt standing next to the elephant he shot on safari

In March 1909, shortly after the end of his presidency, Roosevelt left
New York for the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition, a safari in
east and central Africa.[188] Roosevelt's party landed in Mombasa,
British
East AfricaEast Africa (now Kenya) and traveled to the
Belgian CongoBelgian Congo (now
Democratic Republic of the Congo) before following the
NileNile to
KhartoumKhartoum in modern Sudan. Financed by
Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie and by his own
writings, Roosevelt's party hunted for specimens for the Smithsonian
Institution and for the
American Museum of Natural HistoryAmerican Museum of Natural History in New
York.[189] The group, led by the legendary hunter-tracker RJ
Cunninghame, included scientists from the Smithsonian, and was joined
from time to time by Frederick Selous, the famous big game hunter and
explorer. Participants on the expedition included Kermit Roosevelt,
Edgar Alexander Mearns, Edmund Heller, and John Alden Loring.[190]
Roosevelt and his companions killed or trapped approximately 11,400
animals,[189] from insects and moles to hippopotamuses and elephants.
The 1,000 large animals included 512 big game animals, including six
rare White rhinos. Tons of salted animals and their skins were shipped
to Washington; it took years to mount them all, and the Smithsonian
shared many duplicate specimens with other museums. Regarding the
large number of animals taken, Roosevelt said, "I can be condemned
only if the existence of the National Museum, the American Museum of
Natural History, and all similar zoological institutions are to be
condemned".[191] He wrote a detailed account of the safari in the book
African Game Trails, recounting the excitement of the chase, the
people he met, and the flora and fauna he collected in the name of
science.[192]
After his safari, Roosevelt traveled North to embark on a tour of
Europe. Stopping first in Egypt, he commented favorably on British
rule of the region, giving his opinion that
EgyptEgypt was not yet ready
for independence, paralleling his views about the Philippines.[193] He
refused a meeting with the
PopePope due to a dispute over a group of
Methodists active in Rome, but met with Emperor
Franz JosephFranz Joseph of
Austria-Hungary, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King
George VGeorge V of Great
Britain, and other European leaders. In Oslo, Norway, Roosevelt
delivered a speech calling for limitations on naval armaments, a
strengthening of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and the creation
of a "League of Peace" among the world powers.[194] He also delivered
the
Romanes Lecture at Oxford, in which he denounced those who sought
parallels between the evolution of animal life and the development of
society.[195] Though Roosevelt attempted to avoid domestic politics
during his time abroad, he met with Gifford Pinchot, who related his
own disappointment with the Taft Administration.[196] Pinchot had been
forced to resign as head of the forest service after clashing with
Taft's Interior Secretary, Richard Ballinger, who had prioritized
development over conservation.[197] Roosevelt returned to the United
States in June 1910.[195]
Republican Party schism

Punch depicts GOP Schism between Taft and TR

Roosevelt had attempted to refashion Taft into a younger version of
himself, but as soon as Taft began to display his individuality, the
former president expressed his disenchantment. He was offended on
election night when Taft indicated that his success had been possible
not just through the efforts of Roosevelt, but also his brother
Charley. Roosevelt was further alienated when Taft, intent on becoming
his own man, did not consult him about cabinet appointments.[198]
Roosevelt and other progressives were also dissatisfied over Taft's
conservation policies and his handling of the tariff, which had
indirectly concentrated more power in the hands of conservative party
leaders in Congress.[199]
Returning from Europe, Roosevelt urged progressives to take control of
the Republican Party at the state and local level, and to avoid
splitting the party in a way that would hand the presidency to the
Democrats in 1912. Additionally, Roosevelt expressed optimism about
the Taft Administration after meeting with the president in the White
House in June 1910.[200] In August 1910, Roosevelt gave notable speech
at Osawatomie, Kansas, which was the most radical of his career and
initiated his public break with the Taft administration and the
conservative Republicans. Advocating a program of "New Nationalism",
Roosevelt emphasized the priority of labor over capital interests, a
need to more effectively control corporate creation and combination,
and proposed a ban on corporate political contributions.[201]
Returning to New York, Roosevelt began a battle to take control of the
state Republican party from William Barnes Jr., Tom Platt's successor
as the state party boss. Taft had pledged his support to Roosevelt in
this endeavor, and Roosevelt was outraged when Taft's support failed
to materialize at the 1910 state convention.[202] Roosevelt
nonetheless campaigned for the Republicans in the 1910 elections,
which saw the Democrats gain control of the House for the first time
since the 1890s. Among the newly elected Democrats was New York state
senator Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who argued that he represented his
cousin's policies better than his Republican opponent.[203]
The Republican progressives interpreted the 1910 defeats as compelling
argument for the complete reorganization of the party in 1911.[204]
Senator
Robert M. La Follette Sr.Robert M. La Follette Sr. of Wisconsin joined with Pinchot,
William White, and California Governor
Hiram JohnsonHiram Johnson to create the
National Progressive Republican League; their objectives were to
defeat the power of political bossism at the state level and to
replace Taft at the national level.[205] Despite skepticism of La
Follette's new league, Roosevelt expressed general support for
progressive principles. Between January and April 1911, Roosevelt
wrote a series of articles for The Outlook, defending what he called
"the great movement of our day, the progressive nationalist movement
against special privilege, and in favor of an honest and efficient
political and industrial democracy".[206] With Roosevelt apparently
uninterested in running in 1912, La Follette declared his own
candidacy in June 1911.[205] Roosevelt continually criticized Taft
after the 1910 elections, and the break between the two men became
final after the Justice Department filed an anti-trust lawsuit against
US Steel in September 1911; Roosevelt was humiliated by this suit
because he had personally approved of an acquisition that the Justice
Department was now challenging. However, Roosevelt was still unwilling
to run against Taft in 1912; he instead hoped to run in 1916 against
whichever Democrat beat Taft in 1912.[207]
Election of 1912
Main articles:
U.S. presidential election, 1912U.S. presidential election, 1912 and Progressive Party
(United States, 1912)

Roosevelt campaigning for president, 1912

Republican primaries and convention
In November 1911, a group of Ohio Republicans endorsed Roosevelt for
the party's nomination for president; the endorsers included James R.
Garfield and Dan Hanna. This was notable, as the endorsement was made
by leaders of President Taft's home state. Roosevelt conspicuously
declined to make a statement requested by Garfield—that he flatly
refuse a nomination. Soon thereafter, Roosevelt said, "I am really
sorry for Taft... I am sure he means well, but he means well feebly,
and he does not know how! He is utterly unfit for leadership and this
is a time when we need leadership." In January 1912, Roosevelt
declared "if the people make a draft on me I shall not decline to
serve".[208] Later that year, Roosevelt spoke before the
Constitutional Convention in Ohio, openly identifying as a progressive
and endorsing progressive reforms—even endorsing popular review of
state judicial decisions.[209] In reaction to Roosevelt's proposals
for popular overrule of court decisions, Taft said, "Such extremists
are not progressives—they are political emotionalists or
neurotics".[210]
Roosevelt began to envision himself as the savior of the Republican
Party from defeat in the upcoming presidential election. In February
1912, Roosevelt announced in Boston, "I will accept the nomination for
president if it is tendered to me. I hope that so far as possible the
people may be given the chance through direct primaries to express who
shall be the nominee.[211][212]
Elihu RootElihu Root and Henry Cabot Lodge
thought that division of the party would lead to its defeat in the
next election, while Taft believed that he would be defeated either in
the Republican primary or in the general election.[213]
The 1912 primaries represented the first extensive use of the
presidential primary, a reform achievement of the progressive
movement.[214] The Republican primaries in the South, where party
regulars dominated, went for Taft, as did results in New York,
Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky and Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Roosevelt
won in Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, California,
Maryland and Pennsylvania; Roosevelt also won Taft's home state of
Ohio. These primary elections, while demonstrating Roosevelt's
continuing popularity with the electorate, were not pivotal. The final
credentials of the state delegates at the national convention were
determined by the national committee, which was controlled by the
party leaders, headed by the incumbent president.
Prior to the
1912 Republican National Convention1912 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Roosevelt
expressed doubt about his prospects for victory, noting that Taft had
more delegates and control of the credentials committee. His only hope
was to convince party leaders that the nomination of Taft would hand
the election to the Democrats, but party leaders were determined not
to cede their leadership to Roosevelt.[215] The credentials committee
awarded almost all contested delegates to Taft, and Taft won the
nomination on the first ballot.[216] Black delegates from the South
played a key role: they voted heavily for Taft and put him over the
top.[217] La Follette also helped Taft's candidacy; he hoped that a
deadlocked convention would result in his own nomination, and refused
to release his delegates to support Roosevelt.[216]
The Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party
See also:
New Nationalism (Theodore Roosevelt)New Nationalism (Theodore Roosevelt) and Progressive Party
(United States, 1912)

Once his defeat at the Republican convention appeared probable,
Roosevelt announced that he would "accept the progressive nomination
on a progressive platform and I shall fight to the end, win or lose".
At the same time, Roosevelt prophetically said, "My feeling is that
the Democrats will probably win if they nominate a progressive".[218]
Bolting from the Republican Party, Roosevelt and key allies such as
Pinchot and
Albert BeveridgeAlbert Beveridge created the Progressive Party,
structuring it as a permanent organization that would field complete
tickets at the presidential and state level. It was popularly known as
the "Bull Moose Party", after Roosevelt told reporters, "I'm as fit as
a bull moose".[219] At the 1912 Progressive National Convention,
Roosevelt cried out, "We stand at
ArmageddonArmageddon and we battle for the
Lord." California Governor
Hiram JohnsonHiram Johnson was nominated as Roosevelt's
running mate. Roosevelt's platform echoed his 1907–8 proposals,
calling for vigorous government intervention to protect the people
from the selfish interests:

To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance
between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the
statesmanship of the day.[220][221] This country belongs to the
people. Its resources, its business, its laws, its institutions,
should be utilized, maintained, or altered in whatever manner will
best promote the general interest. This assertion is explicit... Mr.
Wilson must know that every monopoly in the United States opposes the
Progressive party... I challenge him... to name the monopoly that did
support the Progressive party, whether... the Sugar Trust, the US
Steel Trust, the Harvester Trust, the
Standard OilStandard Oil Trust, the Tobacco
Trust, or any other... Ours was the only program to which they
objected, and they supported either Mr. Wilson or Mr. Taft[222]

Though many Progressive party supporters in the North were supporters
of civil rights for blacks, Roosevelt did not give strong support to
civil rights and ran a "lily-white" campaign in the South. Rival
all-white and all-black delegations from four southern states arrived
at the Progressive national convention, and Roosevelt decided to seat
the all-white delegations.[223][224][225] Nevertheless, he won little
support outside mountain Republican strongholds. Out of nearly 1100
counties in the South, Roosevelt won two counties in Alabama, one in
Arkansas, seven in North Carolina, three in Georgia, 17 in Tennessee,
two in Texas, one in Virginia, and none in Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi, or South Carolina.[226]
Assassination attempt

The bullet-damaged speech and eyeglass case on display at the Theodore
Roosevelt Birthplace

On October 14, 1912, while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
Roosevelt was shot by a saloonkeeper named John Flammang Schrank. The
bullet lodged in his chest after penetrating his steel eyeglass case
and passing through a thick (50 pages) single-folded copy of the
speech titled "Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual", which
he was carrying in his jacket.[227] Schrank was immediately disarmed,
captured and might have been lynched had Roosevelt not shouted for
Schrank to remain unharmed.[228] Roosevelt assured the crowd he was
all right, then ordered police to take charge of Schrank and to make
sure no violence was done to him.[229] As an experienced hunter and
anatomist, Roosevelt correctly concluded that since he was not
coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung, and he declined
suggestions to go to the hospital immediately. Instead, he delivered
his scheduled speech with blood seeping into his shirt.[230] He spoke
for 90 minutes before completing his speech and accepting medical
attention. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "Ladies
and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have
just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull
Moose."[231] Afterwards, probes and an x-ray showed that the bullet
had lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle, but did not penetrate the
pleura. Doctors concluded that it would be less dangerous to leave it
in place than to attempt to remove it, and Roosevelt carried the
bullet with him for the rest of his life.[232]
Election results
After the Democrats nominated Governor
Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson of New Jersey,
Roosevelt did not expect to win the general election, as Wilson had
compiled a record attractive to many progressive Democrats who might
have otherwise considered voting for Roosevelt.[233] Roosevelt still
campaigned vigorously, and the election developed into a two-person
contest between Wilson and Roosevelt despite Taft's presence in the
race. Roosevelt respected Wilson, but the two differed on various
issues; Wilson opposed any federal intervention regarding women's
suffrage or child labor (he viewed these as state issues), and
attacked Roosevelt's tolerance of large businesses.[234]
Roosevelt won 4.1 million votes (27%), compared to Taft's 3.5 million
(23%). Wilson gained 6.3 million votes (42% of the total) and a
massive landslide in the Electoral College, with 435 electoral votes;
Roosevelt won 88 electoral votes, while Taft won 8. Pennsylvania was
the only eastern state won by Roosevelt; in the Midwest, he carried
Michigan, Minnesota, and South Dakota; in the West, California, and
Washington.[235] Wilson's victory represented the first Democratic
presidential election victory since Cleveland's 1892 campaign, and it
was the party's best performance in the Electoral College since 1852.
Roosevelt, meanwhile, garnered a higher share of the popular vote than
any other third party presidential candidate in history.[236]
1913–1914 South American Expedition
Main article: Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition
A friend of Roosevelt's, Father John Augustine Zahm, persuaded
Roosevelt to participate in an expedition to South America. To finance
the expedition, Roosevelt received support from the American Museum of
Natural History in return for promising to bring back many new animal
specimens. Roosevelt's popular book, Through the Brazilian
Wilderness[237] describes his expedition into the Brazilian jungle in
1913 as a member of the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition,
co-named after its leader, Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon.

From left to right (seated): Fr. John Augustine Zahm, Cândido Rondon,
Kermit Roosevelt, Cherrie, Miller, four Brazilians, Roosevelt, Fiala.
Only Roosevelt, Kermit, Cherrie, Rondon, and the Brazilians traveled
down the River of Doubt.

Once in South America, a new, far more ambitious goal was added: to
find the headwaters of the Rio da Duvida, and trace it north to the
Madeira and thence to the Amazon River. It was later renamed Roosevelt
River in honor of the former President. Roosevelt's crew consisted of
his son Kermit, naturalist Colonel Rondon, George K. Cherrie, sent by
the American Museum of Natural History, Brazilian Lieutenant João
Lira, team physician Dr. José Antonio Cajazeira, and 16 skilled
paddlers and porters. The initial expedition started somewhat
tenuously on December 9, 1913, at the height of the rainy season. The
trip down the River of Doubt started on February 27, 1914.[238]
During the trip down the river, Roosevelt suffered a minor leg wound
after he jumped into the river to try to prevent two canoes from
smashing against the rocks. The flesh wound he received, however, soon
gave him tropical fever that resembled the malaria he had contracted
while in
CubaCuba fifteen years before.[239] Because the bullet lodged in
his chest from the assassination attempt in 1912 was never removed,
his health worsened from the infection.[240] This weakened Roosevelt
so greatly that six weeks into the adventure, he had to be attended to
day and night by the expedition's physician and his son Kermit. By
then, he could not walk because of the infection in his injured leg
and an infirmity in the other, which was due to a traffic accident a
decade earlier. Roosevelt was riddled with chest pains, fighting a
fever that soared to 103 °F (39 °C) and at times made him
delirious. Regarding his condition as a threat to the survival of the
others, Roosevelt insisted he be left behind to allow the poorly
provisioned expedition to proceed as rapidly as it could. Only an
appeal by his son persuaded him to continue.[238]
Despite Roosevelt's continued decline and loss of over 50 pounds
(23 kg), Commander Rondon reduced the pace of the expedition to
allow for his commission's mapmaking and other geographical tasks,
which required regular stops to fix the expedition's position by
sun-based survey. Upon Roosevelt's return to New York, friends and
family were startled by his physical appearance and fatigue. Roosevelt
wrote, perhaps prophetically, to a friend that the trip had cut his
life short by ten years. For the rest of his few remaining years, he
would be plagued by flare-ups of malaria and leg inflammations so
severe as to require surgery.[241] Before Roosevelt had even completed
his sea voyage home, critics raised doubts over his claims of
exploring and navigating a completely uncharted river over 625 miles
(1,006 km) long. When he had recovered sufficiently, he addressed
a standing-room-only convention organized in Washington, D.C., by the
National Geographic SocietyNational Geographic Society and satisfactorily defended his
claims.[238]
Final years

See also: Roosevelt's
World War IWorld War I volunteers
Roosevelt returned to the United States in May 1914. Though he was
outraged by the Wilson Administration's conclusion of a treaty that
expressed "sincere regret" for the way in which the United States had
acquired the
Panama CanalPanama Canal Zone, he was impressed by many of the
reforms passed under Wilson. Roosevelt made several campaign
appearances for the Progressives, but the 1914 elections were a
disaster for the fledgling third party.[242] Roosevelt began to
envision another campaign for president, this time with himself at the
head of the Republican Party, but conservative party leaders remained
opposed to Roosevelt.[243] In hopes of engineering a joint nomination,
the Progressives scheduled the
1916 Progressive National Convention1916 Progressive National Convention at
the same time as the 1916 Republican National Convention. When the
Republicans nominated Charles Evans Hughes, Roosevelt declined the
Progressive nomination and urged his Progressive followers to support
the Republican candidate.[244] Though Roosevelt had long disliked
Hughes, he disliked Wilson even more, and he campaigned energetically
for the Republican nominee. However, Wilson won the 1916 election by a
narrow margin.[245] The Progressives disappeared as a party following
the 1916 election, and Roosevelt and many of his followers permanently
re-joined the Republican Party.[246]
When
World War IWorld War I began in 1914, Roosevelt strongly supported the
Allies and demanded a harsher policy against Germany, especially
regarding submarine warfare. Roosevelt angrily denounced the foreign
policy of President Wilson, calling it a failure regarding the
atrocities in Belgium and the violations of American rights.[247] In
1916, while campaigning for Hughes, Roosevelt repeatedly denounced
Irish-Americans and German-Americans whom he described as unpatriotic,
saying they put the interests of Ireland and Germany ahead of
America's by supporting neutrality. He insisted that one had to be
100% American, not a "hyphenated American" who juggled multiple
loyalties. In March 1917, Congress gave Roosevelt the authority to
raise a maximum of four divisions similar to the Rough Riders, and
Major
Frederick Russell BurnhamFrederick Russell Burnham was put in charge of both the general
organization and recruitment.[248][249] However, President Wilson
announced to the press that he would not send Roosevelt and his
volunteers to France, but instead would send an American Expeditionary
Force under the command of General John J. Pershing.[250] Roosevelt
never forgave Wilson, and quickly published The Foes of Our Own
Household, an indictment of the sitting president.[251][252][253]
Roosevelt's youngest son, Quentin, a pilot with the American forces in
France, was shot down behind German lines on July 14, 1918, at the age
of 20. It is said that Quentin's death distressed Roosevelt so much
that he never recovered from his loss.[254]
Roosevelt's attacks on Wilson helped the Republicans win control of
Congress in the off-year elections of 1918. He declined a request from
New York Republican to run for another gubernatorial term, but
attacked Wilson's Fourteen Points, calling instead for the
unconditional surrender of Germany. He was cautiously optimistic about
the proposed League of Nations, but had reservations about its impact
on United States sovereignty.[255] Roosevelt was popular enough to
contest the 1920 Republican nomination, but his health was broken by
1918 due to the lingering effects of malaria. His family and
supporters threw their support behind Roosevelt's old military
companion, General Leonard Wood, but Taft supporter Warren G. Harding
defeated Wood on the tenth ballot of the 1920 Republican National
Convention.[256]
Death

Roosevelt's grave, Oyster Bay, New York

On the night of January 5, 1919, Roosevelt suffered breathing
problems. After receiving treatment from his physician, Dr. George W.
Faller, he felt better and went to bed. Roosevelt's last words were
"Please put out that light, James" to his family servant James Amos.
Between 4:00 and 4:15 the next morning, Roosevelt died in his sleep at
Sagamore HillSagamore Hill after a blood clot had detached from a vein and traveled
to his lungs.[240] He was sixty years old. Upon receiving word of his
death, his son Archibald telegraphed his siblings: "The old lion is
dead."[254] Woodrow Wilson's vice president, Thomas R. Marshall, said
that "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake,
there would have been a fight."[257] Following a private farewell
service in the North Room at Sagamore Hill, a simple funeral was held
at Christ Episcopal Church in Oyster Bay.[258] Vice President Thomas
R. Marshall, Charles Evans Hughes, Warren Harding, Henry Cabot Lodge,
and
William Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft were among the mourners.[258] The snow-covered
procession route to
Youngs Memorial Cemetery was lined with spectators
and a squad of mounted policemen who had ridden from New York
City.[259] Roosevelt was buried on a hillside overlooking Oyster
Bay.[260]
Writer
Main article:
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt bibliography

Address to the Boys Progressive League

A speech by Roosevelt as a former President

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Part of the Works of Theodore Roosevelt

Roosevelt was a prolific author, writing with passion on subjects
ranging from foreign policy to the importance of the national park
system. Roosevelt was also an avid reader of poetry. Poet Robert Frost
said that Roosevelt "was our kind. He quoted poetry to me. He knew
poetry."[261]
As an editor of Outlook magazine, Roosevelt had weekly access to a
large, educated national audience. In all, Roosevelt wrote about 18
books (each in several editions), including his autobiography,[262]
The Rough Riders,[263] History of the Naval War of 1812,[264] and
others on subjects such as ranching, explorations, and wildlife. His
most ambitious book was the four volume narrative The Winning of the
West, focused on the
American frontierAmerican frontier in the 18th and early 19th
centuries. Roosevelt said that the American character – indeed
a new "American race" (ethnic group) had emerged from the heroic
wilderness hunters and Indian fighters, acting on the frontier with
little government help.[265] Roosevelt also published an account of
his 1909–10 African expedition entitled African Game Trails.
In 1907, Roosevelt became embroiled in a widely publicized literary
debate known as the nature fakers controversy. A few years earlier,
naturalist
John BurroughsJohn Burroughs had published an article entitled "Real and
Sham Natural History" in the Atlantic Monthly, attacking popular
writers of the day such as Ernest Thompson Seton, Charles G. D.
Roberts, and
William J. LongWilliam J. Long for their fantastical representations of
wildlife. Roosevelt agreed with Burroughs's criticisms, and published
several essays of his own denouncing the booming genre of
"naturalistic" animal stories as "yellow journalism of the woods". It
was the President himself who popularized the negative term "nature
faker" to describe writers who depicted their animal characters with
excessive anthropomorphism.[266]
Character and beliefs

Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt's estate

Roosevelt intensely disliked being called "Teddy", and was quick to
point out this fact to those who referred to him as such, though it
would become widely used by newspapers during his political career. He
attended church regularly, and was a lifelong adherent of the Reformed
Church in America, an American affilliate of the Dutch Reformed
Church. In 1907, concerning the motto "In God We Trust" on money, he
wrote, "It seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use
on coins, just as it would be to cheapen it by use on postage stamps,
or in advertisements." He was also a member of the
FreemasonsFreemasons and Sons
of the American Revolution.[267]
Roosevelt had a lifelong interest in pursuing what he called, in an
1899 speech, "The Strenuous Life". To this end, he exercised regularly
and took up boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback
riding. As governor of New York, he boxed with sparring partners
several times each week, a practice he regularly continued as
President until being hit so hard in the face he became blind in his
left eye (a fact not made public until many years later). Thereafter,
he practiced judo, attaining a third degree brown belt; he also
continued his habit of skinny-dipping in the
Potomac RiverPotomac River during the
winter.[268][269]
Roosevelt was an enthusiastic singlestick player and, according to
Harper's Weekly, showed up at a
White HouseWhite House reception with his arm
bandaged after a bout with General
Leonard WoodLeonard Wood in 1905.[270]
Roosevelt was an avid reader, reading tens of thousands of books, at a
rate of several per day in multiple languages. Along with Thomas
Jefferson, Roosevelt was the most well-read of all American
presidents.[271]
Roosevelt talked a great deal about religion. Biographer Edmund Morris
states:

When consoling bereaved people, he would awkwardly invoke 'unseen and
unknown powers.' Aside from a few clichés of Protestant rhetoric, the
gospel he preached had always been political and pragmatic. He was
inspired less by the Passion of Christ than by the Golden
Rule – that appeal to reason amounting, in his mind, to a
worldly rather than heavenly law.[272]

Roosevelt publicly encouraged church attendance, and was a
conscientious churchgoer himself. When gas rationing was introduced
during the First World War, he walked the three miles from his home at
Sagamore HillSagamore Hill to the local church and back, even after a serious
operation had made it difficult for him to travel by foot.[273] It was
said that Roosevelt "allowed no engagement to keep him from going to
church," and he remained a fervent advocate of the Bible throughout
his adult life.[274][275] According to Christian F. Reisner, writing
in 1922 shortly after Roosevelt's death, "Religion was as natural to
Mr. Roosevelt as breathing,"[276] and when the travel library for
Roosevelt's famous Smithsonian-sponsored African expedition was being
assembled, the Bible was, according to his sister, "the first book
selected."[277] In an address delivered in his home at Oyster Bay to
the Long Island Bible Society in 1901, Roosevelt declared that:

Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes what a very large number
of people tend to forget, that the teachings of the Bible are so
interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it
would be literally—I do not mean figuratively, I mean
literally—impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life
would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose almost all the
standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all
the standards toward which we, with more or less of resolution, strive
to raise ourselves. Almost every man who has by his lifework added to
the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, has based his
lifework largely upon the teachings of the Bible...Among the greatest
men a disproportionately large number have been diligent and close
students of the Bible at first hand.[277]

Political positions
Main article: Political positions of Theodore Roosevelt
On taking office, Roosevelt reassured many conservatives, stating,
"the mechanism of modern business is so delicate that extreme care
must be taken not to interfere with it in a spirit of rashness or
ignorance."[278] The following year, Roosevelt asserted the
president's independence from business interests by opposing the
merger which created the Northern Securities Company, and many were
surprised that any president, much less an unelected one, would
challenge powerful banker J.P. Morgan.[279] In his last two years as
president, Roosevelt became increasingly distrustful of big business,
despite its close ties to the Republican Party.[280] Roosevelt sought
to replace the 19th-century laissez-faire economic environment with a
new economic model which included a larger regulatory role for the
federal government. He believed that 19th-century entrepreneurs had
risked their fortunes on innovations and new businesses, and that
these capitalists had been rightly rewarded. By contrast, he believed
that 20th-century capitalists risked little but nonetheless reaped
huge and, given the lack of risk, unjust, economic rewards. Without a
redistribution of wealth away from the upper class, Roosevelt feared
that the country would turn to radicals or fall to revolution.[281]
His
Square DealSquare Deal domestic program had three main goals: conservation of
natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer
protection.[282] The
Square DealSquare Deal evolved into his program of "New
Nationalism", which emphasized the priority of labor over capital
interests and a need to more effectively control corporate creation
and combination, and proposed a ban on corporate political
contributions.[201]
Legacy

Roosevelt in Pennsylvania on October 26, 1914

Historians credit Roosevelt for changing the nation's political system
by permanently placing the presidency at center stage and making
character as important as the issues. His notable accomplishments
include trust busting and conservationism. He is a hero to liberals
for his proposals in 1907–12 that presaged the modern welfare state
of the New Deal Era, and put the environment on the national agenda.
Conservatives admire his "big stick" diplomacy and commitment to
military values. Dalton says, "Today he is heralded as the architect
of the modern presidency, as a world leader who boldly reshaped the
office to meet the needs of the new century and redefined America's
place in the world."[283]
However, liberals have criticized him for his interventionist and
imperialist approach to nations he considered "uncivilized".
Conservatives reject his vision of the welfare state and emphasis on
the superiority of government over private action. Historians
typically rank Roosevelt among the top five presidents.[284][285]
Persona and masculinity

1910 cartoon shows Roosevelt's multiple roles from 1899 to 1910

Dalton says Roosevelt is remembered as, "one of the most picturesque
personalities who has ever enlivened the landscape".[286] His friend,
historian Henry Adams, proclaimed:

Roosevelt, more than any other man... showed the singular primitive
quality that belongs to ultimate matter—the quality that medieval
theology assigned to God—he was pure act.[287]

Recent biographers have stressed Roosevelt's personality. Cooper
compared him with Woodrow Wilson, and discovered that both of them
played the roles of warrior and priest.[288] Dalton stressed
Roosevelt's strenuous life.[289] Sarah Watts examined the desires of
the "Rough Rider in the White House".[290] Brands calls Roosevelt "the
last romantic", arguing that his romantic concept of life emerged from
his belief that "physical bravery was the highest virtue and war the
ultimate test of bravery".[291]
Roosevelt as the exemplar of American masculinity has become a major
theme.[292][293] As president, he repeatedly warned men that they were
becoming too office-bound, too complacent, too comfortable with
physical ease and moral laxity, and were failing in their duties to
propagate the race and exhibit masculine vigor.[294] French historian
Serge Ricard says, "the ebullient apostle of the Strenuous Life offers
ideal material for a detailed psycho-historical analysis of aggressive
manhood in the changing socio-cultural environment of his era;
McKinley, Taft, or Wilson would perhaps inadequately serve that
purpose".[295] He promoted competitive sports and the Boy Scouts of
America, founded in 1910, as the way forward.[296] Brands shows that
heroic displays of bravery were essential to Roosevelt's image and
mission:

What makes the hero a hero is the romantic notion that he stands above
the tawdry give and take of everyday politics, occupying an ethereal
realm where partisanship gives way to patriotism, and division to
unity, and where the nation regains its lost innocence, and the people
their shared sense of purpose.[297]

Roosevelt was included with Presidents George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, and
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln at the
Mount RushmoreMount Rushmore Memorial,
designed in 1927 with the approval of Republican President Calvin
Coolidge.[298][299]
For his gallantry at San Juan Hill, Roosevelt's commanders recommended
him for the Medal of Honor. In the late 1990s, Roosevelt's supporters
again recommended the award. On January 16, 2001, President Bill
Clinton awarded
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt the
Medal of HonorMedal of Honor posthumously for
his charge on San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish–American
War.[300] He is the only president to have received the Medal of
Honor.[301]
The
United States NavyUnited States Navy named two ships for Roosevelt: the
USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), a submarine that was in
commission from 1961 to 1982, and the USS Theodore
Roosevelt (CVN-71), an aircraft carrier that has been on active
duty in the Atlantic Fleet since 1986.
On November 18, 1956, the
United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal Service released a 6¢
Liberty IssueLiberty Issue postage stamp honoring Roosevelt. A 32¢ stamp was
issued on February 3, 1998, as part of the
Celebrate the CenturyCelebrate the Century stamp
sheet series.[302] In 2008,
Columbia Law SchoolColumbia Law School awarded a law degree
to Roosevelt, posthumously making him a member of the class of
1882.[303]
Roosevelt's "Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick" ideology is still
quoted by politicians and columnists in different countries—not only
in English, but also in translations to various other languages.[118]
Another lasting, popular legacy of Roosevelt is the stuffed toy
bears—teddy bears—named after him following an incident on a
hunting trip in Mississippi in 1902.[304] Roosevelt has been portrayed
in films and television series such as Brighty of the Grand Canyon,
The Wind and the Lion, Rough Riders, My Friend Flicka,[305] and Law of
the Plainsman.[306]
Robin WilliamsRobin Williams portrayed Roosevelt in the form of
a wax mannequin that comes to life in
Night at the MuseumNight at the Museum and its
sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Night at
the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. In 2017, it was announced that
Leonardo DiCaprioLeonardo DiCaprio will portray Roosevelt in a biopic to be directed by
Martin Scorsese.[307]
Audiovisual media

Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was one of the first presidents whose voice was
recorded for posterity. Several of his recorded speeches survive.[308]
A 4.6-minute voice recording,[309] which preserves Roosevelt's lower
timbre ranges particularly well for its time, is among those available
from the
Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University libraries (this is the 1912
recording of The Right of the People to Rule, recorded by Edison at
Carnegie Hall). The audio clip sponsored by the Authentic History
Center includes his defense[310] of the Progressive Party in 1912,
wherein he proclaims it the "party of the people" – in contrast
with the other major parties.

Bishop, Joseph Bucklin (2007), Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His
Children, Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-434-48394-2 .
DiSilvestro, Roger (2011),
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt in the Badlands: A Young
Politician's Quest in the American West, Walker & Co,
ISBN 978-0-8027-1721-4, archived from the original on March 26,
2011 .
Fehn, Bruce (2005), "
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt and American Masculinity",
Magazine of History, 19 (2): 52–59, doi:10.1093/maghis/19.2.52,
ISSN 0882-228X Provides a lesson plan on TR as the
historical figure who most exemplifies the quality of masculinity.
Gluck, Sherwin (1999), TR's Summer White House, Oyster Bay .
Chronicles the events of TR's presidency during the summers of his two
terms.
Greenberg, David (2011), "Beyond the Bully Pulpit", Wilson Quarterly,
35 (3): 22–29 . The president's use of publicity, rhetoric and
force of personality.
Millard, Candice (2005), River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest
Journey ; his deadly 1913–14 trip to the Amazon.
McCullough, David (1981), Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an
Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who
Became Theodore Roosevelt, Simon & Schuster , best seller; to
1886.
——— (2001) [1981], Mornings on Horseback, The Story of an
Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who
Became
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt (popular biography) , to 1884.
O'Toole, Patricia (2005), When Trumpets Call:
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt after
the White House, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-86477-0 .
494 pp.
Renehan, Edward J (1998), The Lion's Pride:
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt and His
Family in Peace and War,
OxfordOxford University Press , examines TR
and his family during the
World War IWorld War I period.
Testi, Arnaldo (1995), "The Gender of Reform Politics: Theodore
Roosevelt and the Culture of Masculinity", Journal of American
History, 81 (4): 1509–33, doi:10.2307/2081647 .
Thompson, J Lee (2010),
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt Abroad: Nature, Empire, and
the Journey of an American President, Palgrave Macmillan,
ISBN 978-0-230-10277-4 , 240 pp. TR in Africa & Europe,
1909–10
Watts, Sarah (2003), Rough Rider in the White House: Theodore
Roosevelt and the Politics of Desire . 289 pp.
Yarbrough, Jean M (2012),
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt and the American
Political Tradition, University Press of Kansas , 337 pp; TR's
political thought and its significance for republican self-government.

Domestic policies

Brinkley, Douglas (2009). The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt
and the Crusade for America. New York: HarperCollins. online
review; another online review
Cutright, P.R. (1985) Theodore Roosevelt: The making of a Modern
Conservationist (U of Illinois Press.)
Dorsey, Leroy G (1997), "The Frontier Myth and Teddy Roosevelt's Fight
for Conservation", in Gerster, Patrick; Cords, Nicholas, Myth America:
A Historical Anthology, II, St. James, NY: Brandywine Press,
ISBN 1-881089-97-5 .
Gould, Lewis L (2011), The
Presidency of Theodore RooseveltPresidency of Theodore Roosevelt (2nd
ed.) , standard history of his domestic and foreign policy as
president.
Bakari, Mohamed El-Kamel. "Mapping the
‘Anthropocentric-ecocentric’Dualism in the History of American
Presidency: The Good, the Bad, and the Ambivalent." Journal of Studies
in Social Sciences 14, no. 2 (2016).
Keller, Morton, ed. (1967), Theodore Roosevelt: A Profile (excerpts
from TR and from historians) .
Murphey, William (March 2013), "
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt and the Bureau of
Corporation: Executive-Corporate Cooperation and the Advancement of
the Regulatory State", American Nineteenth Century History, 14 (1):
73–111, doi:10.1080/14664658.2013.774983 .
Redekop, Benjamin. (2015). "Embodying the Story: The Conservation
Leadership of Theodore Roosevelt". Leadership (2015)
DOI:10.1177/1742715014546875 online
Swanson, Ryan A (2011), "'I Never Was a Champion at Anything':
Theodore Roosevelt's Complex and Contradictory Record as America's
'Sports President'", Journal of Sport History, 38 (3): 425–46 .
Zacks, Richard (2012), Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed
Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York .

"
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt collected news and commentary". The New York
Times.
"Life Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt", from C-SPAN's American
Presidents: Life Portraits, September 3, 1999
"Writings of Theodore Roosevelt" from C-SPAN's American Writers: A
Journey Through History

26th President of the United States, 1901–1909
25th Vice President of the United States, 1901
33rd Governor of New York, 1899–1900
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1897–1898
New York CityNew York City Police Commissioner, 1895–1897
New York State Assemblyman, 1882
1883
1884

Newlands Reclamation Act
Transfer Act of 1905
Antiquities Act
Pelican Island
Devils TowerDevils Tower National Monument
Muir Woods National Monument
Other National Monuments
United States Forest Service,
United States Reclamation Service
National Wildlife Refuge System
Roosevelt Arch
Conference of Governors

National Republican Congressional Committee
National Republican Senatorial Committee
Republican Conference of the United States House of Representatives
Republican Conference of the United States Senate
Republican Governors Association